Haraka by haraka
A fast, highly extensible, and event driven SMTP server
About Haraka
From the project's README at github.com/haraka/Haraka. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
Haraka is a highly scalable [node.js][1] email server with a modular plugin architecture. Haraka can serve thousands of concurrent connections and deliver thousands of messages per second. Haraka and plugins are written in asynchronous JS and are very fast.
Haraka has very good spam protection (see [plugins][4]) and works well as a filtering [MTA][3]. It also works well as a [MSA][5] running on port 587 with auth and [dkim][6] plugins enabled.
Haraka makes no attempt to be a mail store (like Exchange or Postfix/Exim/Qmail), a [LDA][7], nor an IMAP server (like Dovecot or Courier). Haraka is typically used with such systems.
Haraka has a scalable outbound mail delivery engine built in. Mail marked as (such as via an plugin) is automatically queued for outbound delivery. Getting Help [Join the mailing list][8] (implemented as a Haraka plugin) [GitHub Issues][15] Screencast
Health score breakdown
6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
Adoption signals
Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.
| Signal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 5.6k | github.com/haraka/Haraka |
| GitHub forks | 695 | github.com/haraka/Haraka |
| NPM downloads (last month) | 167 | haraka |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 15.2 years | since Mar 2011 |
| Last commit | 8 days ago | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Releases shipped | 40 | last: 1 months ago |
| Security policy | SECURITY.md | declared by maintainers |
| Funding links | 2 | declared by maintainers |
Self-hosting cost across providers
Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.
| Provider | Plan | Specs | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hetzner | CAX11 | 2c · 4GB · 40GB | $4.13 USD | Deploy → |
| vultr | VC2 | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5 USD | Deploy → |
| linode | Nanode 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5.12 USD | Deploy → |
| digitalocean | Basic Regular 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $6 USD | Deploy → |
What people say on Hacker News
Ready to self-host Haraka?
Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.
Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.
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